PORT ANGELES – Remains found Tuesday afternoon in material excavated from the Port Angeles International Gateway Transportation Center construction site have halted all digging and disposal of excavated material.
An archaeologist must determine if the remains are animal or human – and if they are human, whether or not they are Native American.
Archaeologist Randall Schalk from Cascadian Archaeology of Seattle, who had left the area during a pause in digging, was expected to return Tuesday night.
Schalk could make a determination by late Wednesday morning.
The remains were placed in secure storage on Tuesday to await his arrival.
Port Angeles Police officers are guarding the Gateway Center site downtown while Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies are securing the Patterson Road disposal site where the remains were found in the excavated material.
“We’re still gathering details from Primo Construction, the contractor, and Exeltech, the construction management company,” said city spokeswoman Teresa Pierce about two hours after the discovery.
“We’re following a protocol set up with the entire project,” she said.
That protocol includes having an archaeologist on site during excavation, halting all work if possible artifacts or remains are found and notifying the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department, Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.
Construction was halted on a state Department of Transportation graving yard site on Marine Drive in Port Angeles in December 2004 after human remains and artifacts were unearthed from the Klallam village of Tse-whit-zen.
Construction on a $2.8 million community septic system and drain field was halted in May at Beckett Point in Jefferson County after remains thought to be Native American were found.
